Economist Nii Moi Thompson has waded into the 24-hour economy debate; responding to comments made by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stressed former President John Mahama lacks understanding of his own 24-hour economic policy.
"Today, John Mahama says he has new ideas and that he wants a 24-hour economy, he doesn’t even understand that policy...Today, our hospitals, electricity company, water company, fuel stations, chop bars and many sectors all work 24 hours. Today, because of digitalisation you can transfer and receive money in 24 hours, so he doesn’t understand his own policy,” the Vice President pointed out.
However, Dr Nii Moi Thompson disagrees.
Read his reaction in the article below:
Bawumia, chop bars, and the 24-hour economy
When former president and flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, declared a 24-hour economy as his main strategy for transforming Ghana’s development fortunes, his adversaries across the pond probably dismissed it as just another campaign talk.
That is, until the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Dr. Yaw Baah, an economist, described the strategy as “a game changer”. And then panic set in across the pond, and even inside it.
For some crazy reason, those adversaries reduced the idea of a 24-hour economy to having fun at night Hence, in the 2024 budget, the finance minister tried to upstage Mr. Mahama by promising everything from “a Night and Sport Economy” (p. 92) to “the Night Economy and tourism” (p. 92) to the development of Black Star Square into a “City Light Centre…to drive the night economy in Accra… [and create] a welcoming night-time environment…” (p. 92), and, finally, to the use of Astro Turfs to create “vibrant night economies” in their host communities (p.93). (For the record, the word “night” appears only once in the 2023 budget, in reference to patrols by immigration officers).
Not to be outdone by the finance minister, the vice president and chairman of the economic management team, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who will be contesting Mr. Mahama in the December 2024 presidential election, reportedly said at a political rally that Mr Mahama “doesn’t understand his own policy” and that “it does not make sense”.
He went on to remind his audience that Ghana already has a thriving 24-hour economy, citing hospitals, fuel stations and chop bars – yes, he did! – as proof. He then promised “a new vision” complete with a “new policy” that would “transform this country.”
The news report gave no details about this vision. But if his idea of a 24-hour economy, beyond the nightlife of the finance minister, is about building more chop bars across Ghana to ensure round-the-clock access to fufu or fried rice, then he is even more rudderless than he has proven in the past seven years.
A 24-hour economy is about more than keeping a few establishments open around the clock – or lighted Astro Turfs at night. It’s a multi-dimensional strategy for economic transformation, where businesses that operate during the day are strengthened and conditions are created for others across the country – not just Accra – to rise or thrive in an inter-connected world that never sleeps. It’s about a country living to its fullest potential, not settling for mediocrity over chop bars.
When the idea of a 24-hour was originally proposed in the 40-Year National Development Plan, it was partly to address unemployment from what the Plan called the “technological upheavals” of the future, such as robotics, AI, and 3D printing, that would displace workers in many traditional and high-value sectors. The strategy, as laid out in the Plan, aimed at three shifts of 8 hours each and 4 shifts of 6 hours each, depending on a “productivity revolution,” which was also proposed in the Plan.
The strategy, which was subsequently incorporated into the NDC’s 2020 manifesto, alongside transformative policies like an Employment Act (to complement the Labour Act) and a jobs programme called Edwuma Pa (Good Work), also recognised the availability, dependability AND increased use of electricity (a measure of a growing economy) as a pre-condition and one of 10 key drivers of a productive 24-Hour economy. Specific targets for electricity consumption, measured by kilowatt-hour (kWh) per capita, were therefore set, and Dr. Bawumia’s government inherited more than enough electricity from Mr. Mahama in 2017 to meet those targets. They didn’t.
Instead, they blamed Mr. Mahama for giving Ghana “too much electricity,” when the real problem was too little economic activity due to the bankrupt economic policies that they initiated the moment they took office, destroying the financial sector and subverting industrial activity. Thus, they missed the critical first-years targets.
For example, in 2018, the government attained only 452 kWh per capita, instead of the projected 620 kWh, and in 2021 it managed 548 kWh instead of 850 kWh; it is unlikely that they would meet the 1,433 kWh target for 2025.
The consequences of these “fatal errors” were predictable: Manufacturing growth declined from 14.24% in the first quarter of 2017 to 6.32% in the last quarter of 2019, while electricity use by the economy peaked at 20.82% in the first quarter of 2018 and then plunged to 0.90% in the third quarter of 2019, all before Covid and Ukraine, which are now the whipping boys of their mismanagement.
The latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service show that the economy has still not recovered from the wrong-headed policies of Dr. Bawumia and his team. The manufacturing sector shrank by 2.5% in the first three months of 2023 and by 0.5% in the next three, inevitably worsening unemployment. (His voodoo claim of creating 2.3 million jobs in a collapsing economy will be tackled another time).
Significantly, and despite popular perceptions, Mr. Mahama has perhaps the best record of any president, except Kwame Nkrumah, in providing electricity to Ghanaians, after inheriting dumsor, which had plagued Ghana intermittently since 1983. The following are the average annual growth rates for installed electricity (by Megawatt) under the four most recent presidents, based on data from the Energy Commission:
·JAK: 1.2% (2001-2004)
·JAK: 3.6% (2005-2008)
·JAM: 3.7% (2009-2012)
·JDM:15% (2013-2016)
·NAA: 8.1% (2017-2020)
· NAA:1.1% (2021-2022)
Even chop bars, taflatse, need electricity, and Dr. Bawumia has woefully failed to provide that. It is doubtful that he would do any better. Now or ever.
Nii Moi Thompson
22/11/2023
“What others have done, we can do.” – Marcus Garvey.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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They have plagiarised the 24 hour economy document from Kenya. Edudzi was quoting figures on job creation from a Kenyan document. 24 hour economies are developed for cities. Sectors of the economy like Sanitation and haulage of goods could be transformed. Our power supply is not even sufficient for residential purposes in the night and we are going to add on Manufacturing.
Mahama and NDC don’t understand 24hr economy,they have limited/reduced it to factories running at night,night activities,buying and selling at night.No wonder Bawumia said Mahama doesn’t even understand 24hr economy.Night businesses,activities and night life is in existence for long time,it’s a matter of demand and supply.In fact most organizations and institutions run 24hrs already …those who’s products are patronized 24hrs do and nothing stop them.What we need now is complete digital economy,and Bawumia has set the pace already.In fact,sophisticated tool for modern economic management is Digitization/ICT/technology coz it maximizes revenue mobilization,cut down wastes,minimizes corruption,enhances efficient services delivery and comfort.Eg.When ECG was digitized,revenues skyrocketed over 600%,since teller/cashier can’t pocket sales(corruption cut off here),I can pay tariffs or buy prepaid energy anytime even 2am down at the comfort of my home without spending T&T/spending fuel to physically go the ECG office to sometimes queue.Same applies to other utilities.Again coz of technology,internet banking services is available 24hrs,I can do banking transactions/send money at the comfort of my room at time without physically spend T&T/spend fuel to banking halls to queue.Same applies to other services like Passport acquisitions,DVLA services etc.I can buy anything anywhere online and be delivered 24/7.I can set countless examples.This is what we called 24hr economy,not what Mahama and NDC are saying.We need Bawumia to take Ghana where we want to be.
Nii Moi, 24 hour economy does not work under our current security. They work under safe environments and that’s why so far only developed countries have 24 hour economies. With the the crime rates in Africa and specifically Ghana, there is no way 24 hour economy will work. Also, even in developed countries, it’s normally the manufacturing and some service providing industries that work 24 hours so in effect government cannot bring 24 hours economy but can only provide the conducive environment for it and the number condition is security. It will take us several years to have the security required for a 24 hour economy. Even during the day we are getting robbed left, right, center and you are here talking about 24 hour economy. Let’s do clean politics and stop the deceit
All these long essay, with nothing actually to respond to the substantive issue. Explain to us how the 24 hr economy will run, aside what we already know. How will government legislate the process, which are the industries to be in the chain, how will the labour be similar or different from the existing status quo?
NPP lead by Bawulair dont want to hear the truth, Dumsor started in JAK administration, so NDC inherited dumso but solved it before leaving power for the wicked Nana Addo
Sometimes I don't understand how some of you deduce your intellectual analysis, increase electricity to 15% and yet Ghanaians sleep under Dumosor for 4 years and calculate number of business that collapsed and lost of employment
@PEE and Dr Nii Moi, go away with your bogus analysis, Dr Nii Moi is an economist, saying things and drawing development plans are not new in Ghana politics. Nii Moi should tell Ghanaians how much would the plan(24hr) will cost and the source of the money. That is real economic work. The requisite people who will drive the idea and execute them.
THANK YOU NII